Countdown to Christmas part 2

[SideOrderofSprouts]

Wow! Part two!!

8 months to go

Do it flapjack! I feel fabulously festive now

I'm starting to plan my hampers this year now. Going to make sil1 a tea hamper. Got her eldest daughters present. Sil2 going to buy rum. Sil3 who I never fucking see I don't know. Mil going to make a bit of everything hamper.

My mum and dad have a calendar of the kids every year (their choice) and probably Amazon vouchers.

Then eldest
Niece gets new look vouchers. Eldest newohews get Xbox live between them. Youngest nephew depends what he's into. Then youngest niece I'm going to buy toot toot 😂

Sprouts what do you use for your hampers? Is it baskets or boxes. I have been trying to find something nice that's not too expensive.

I got some decent sized gingham lined white whicker ones (blimey thats a bit of a tongue twister) last year on amazon. They were only £8 or so .

I did hampers for a lot of people last year and I have sworn never again! I would personally love to receive one but they were time consuming to put together, far more expensive than I expected but without looking expensive, and not particularly appreciated!

Ibhavr done hampers for years pippa thet only go to people I know will apprecate them and I keep the costs down by collecting stuff for themnall yeat, only problem is I don't know the actual cost of them so they are probably muchh more expensive than I am imaginining. But I really enjoy doing it, so it is probably more a gift to myself 😂

I kept adding just one more thing because I was worried that it didn't look enough. Starting earlier would have helped! I even did a Vegan one for SIL that I thought looked fab but everyone seemed nonplussed. They had drink, books etc in them. I would seriously love a thoughtful one tailored to me but never again! DH said it would have been easier and more appreciated by some of the people we gave them to give cash instead so that is what we will do this year

Placemarking.

I have children who will be 1 and 4 at Christmas, but several nieces and nephews up to the age of 12...

Going to try and be done by September for the kids so I can enjoy the run up

Placemarking

I like to have most done by September too

All this talk of hampers reminded me that I had an email from Twinings this week as some of their fruity / herbal teas are £1 per box. I've just ordered some, plus some Everyday ones, for my parents' hamper.

We are stopping off at Tebay services later, so will mooch round the farmers' shop for stuff with a long enough shelf life to put in it (biscuits / preserves / chutneys etc).

Once the kids' birthdays are out of the way I'll think about getting everyone else sorted.

Though I did buy some profanity pencils the other week for my sister which I think she'll find amusing! I'd forgotten about them until I saw the entry on my PayPal account...might've been a drunken purchase! 😂

These are the delightful pencils:

www.littlerowboat.co.uk/shop/4583403206/profanity-pencils-(limited-edition)/11162944

I would love to do hampers/gift boxes this year.

So ideas of food, tea, coffee, books, booze what else would you add to it?

We are staying in a rented cottage so plan to do hampers for all the kids big and small ( ranging from 27 to 3 ) as i figure it will be easier than taking lots of bigger things and only need to remember i box per person. Hope that will keep present chaos to a minimum !

Ps got lots of little bits and bobs in the sales since christmas so building up a good stash and that has kept costs down so far .

Oh I'm glad we're on the hamper subject! Every year I do a home made hamper for about 7 couples/family members. I feel like it's getting a bit same old same old. So suggestions on what you would like to see in a hamper and what your not really bothered/could live without would be great please. I've already borrowed the blackberry vodka recipe on the pervious thread thanks everyone

All my hampers which were actually posh crate thingys were themed for the recipients. So my SIL who is at uni had Pop Tarts, Marshmallow Fluff, a book I thought she would like, a Nando's voucher, a Starbucks voucher, some baking stuff cos they like to do that in their student house etc, a bottle of vodka and other stuff I can't remember. But it definitely cost more than the £50 we usually give her and I think she would have preferred the cash!

I think eldestsprout would like one full of bath stuff body spray books etc

SideOrder, my DD watched me put them together and she was so jealous that she didn't get one (still young enough for FC) so she will definitely get one when she is older

I do a 'Box of Random Little Things' (according to DD ) for her Birthday.
Nice box from HomeSense that she can keep things in later (like her phone cables/cases/pens) and a small present for every year.
So this year 15 (I aim to keep them at £2-£5 ) to give her something fun to open on the day (her main present is something like a phone/PC type ). So now I'm on the lookout and brain wracking .

One year for my DParents I bought a (nice) wicker bin (so that they could use it after unlike a hamper box that they wouldn't) , threaded it with red/green ribbon.

Coffee, tea,, nice savoury crackers (like the M&S Black Olive ones) jams, chutneys, mince pies, tin of salmon etc ......they are nigh on impossible to buy for ,

I always make my dad and his other half a hamper of nice nibbly things from our local farm shop but I usually forget about it until a couple of weeks before! Thanks for reminding me about it everyone, I can start sorting it a bit earlier this time

I am thinking of a hamper for DF this year. Last year he received a mixed box of artisan beer which he seemed pleased with. Am thinking of mainly edible and drinkable stuff as he would prefer that to 'things'. Perhaps a book on beer/whisky/cognac. Any other ideas would be much appreciated

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Oooh nearly two hundred >

ShirtRuined look out for nice beer/brandy glasses too.

I got a Stella Artois goblet (free when you buy a 4 can pack) last year and they do nice green bottles of Stella (like a posh wine bottle) that looks nicer on the table than a manky can.

Things like wheat beer or trappist beer needs a specific shape of glass (so I'm told)

I'm buying DD a Starbucks glass tumbler for her at home drinks (her request)

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